KENNETH BATISTA

Based on pixelated travel photographs, Kenneth Batista's paintings live between figuration and abstraction. The series was inspired while bouncing around in a Land Rover across Kenya's Masai Mara, watching the landscape ahead alter during movement. "Travel is an integral part of my investigations," he says. Batista's paintings go beyond travelogue, inviting viewers to be active observers of what he actualizes artistically.

From a distance, in his paintings, a spectator perceives a recognizable image, but while getting closer, the image falls into abstract squares, leaving color to be the only unifying feature. Batista employs digital technology to shift viewers' perception, while the painting takes on a life, time, and place of its own.